In the submarine technical sector it is known that, when the submarine is at periscope depth, a predetermined number of passive and active sensors have to be carried out of the water, for example radar and/or radio antennae, optronic heads and the like, which are normally housed in the submarine tower (or sail) and integral with tubes able to move by translation which, when required, are translated vertically by suitable hydraulic and/or electric raising devices, until the sensors emerge from the surface of the water above the tower.
It is also known that the devices (sensors, periscopes, antennae, snorkels) are raised above the sail (submarine tower) using guides on which the supports of the devices to be raised slide.
Said guides usually consist of a longitudinal body, integral with a fixed structure, on which sliding surfaces are made, on which the sliding blocks integral with the sensor movable support slide.
The guides have various sliding surface layouts, guaranteeing linear movement with the required precision and support for the loads which tend to shift or bend the moving supports. The extent of these loads is usually very high when the submarine is moving due to the resistance offered by the water on the raised device.
One very efficient guide configuration is that described in EP 0 711 702 having a rectangular plan and sliding surfaces positioned at the vertices of the rectangle in such a way that the sliding blocks push towards the centre of the side which supports the sliding surface, so that the thrust from the sliding block is discharged on the entire wall, compressing it.
Although functional, said solution is very heavy in practice, whilst end users currently seek lighter guiding and raising devices.
For this purpose, the possibility of creating the guide structures using composite materials is also known. However, if the guide is made using composite material, structures of the known type have the problem deriving from the fact that the composite material of the flat wall has a reduced resistance when subjected to compression forces such as those seen in the prior art structures.
In addition, in the typical case of composite materials consisting of layers placed on top of one another, the composite material itself when compressed risks separation of the layers (delamination).